Guest Blog by Austin Ruddy – Credit Where Credit’s Due

Aside from big bidding, the recent online sale of a City of Lincoln Raid Welfare badge for more than £110 perhaps shows a sign of the gradual appreciation of what has often been viewed as one of the less glamorous - if that’s the right word - of the ARP and CD services.  

City of Lincoln Raid Welfare badge

Apart from a famous scene where a rest centre is blown up in the 1969 epic film Battle of Britain, the post-raid/raid welfare services are often overlooked in post-war retellings of the Blitz, even though they played a vital role.

But, perhaps surprisingly, that’s not just a modern-day omission – it was also an oversight at the time.

Whilst preparations had been planned for up to four years before the war, as the title Air Raid Precautions suggests, most consideration had gone into measures before and during air attack, such as shelters, gas masks, response services etc, with little consideration into what happened after the all clear.

Taking Leicester as an example, astonishingly, records reveal the Midlands city’s post-raid services were formed only as an afterthought, following the main Blitz. At the war’s start, it was simply suggested Leicester’s parks be kept open during raids, where those bombed-out could congregate.

Whilst some church halls etc. provided temporary shelter for the homeless when the city suffered its main blitz in November 1940, it was only two months afterwards that Leicester’s ARP Controller announced in the local press that the city’s post-raid provision had been 're-modelled to cope with air attack'. Records then show a swing throughout 1941 from the previous focus on ARP to post-raid services, with development of the city’s rest centres, emergency feeding centres and other forms of assistance.

And this was not just limited to Leicester, but can be seen across Britain: indeed, the term 'ARP' was largely replaced with the broader 'Civil Defence' (CD) in September 1941.  

With each city requiring thousands of personnel to staff the various refuges and feeding stations, the post-raid services eventually became one of the biggest branches of CD. Yet, due to clothing restrictions, most members were not entitled to standard CD uniform. Instead, they were issued with a standard national Rest Centre Service pin badge. However, as we have seen, rest centres were only one part of the post-raid welfare services, so some areas recognised this with the issue of a different enamel badge.

The most prominent was No.3 (North Midlands) CD Region, comprising Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. At a meeting of Leicester CD Committee on September 16, 1942, it was reported:

"Regarding the issue of a new type of national badge to Rest Centre volunteers. An initial supply of 600 badges has been requested, which will be issued free, but subject to payment by the volunteer of 1/- [£2.75] in the event of loss.

'However, issue of the new badge makes no provision for remaining volunteers in the Post-Raid Welfare Services and the adoption of a local badge is recommended. A specimen is submitted, which can be purchased for 1/2d [£2] each."

City of Leicester Civil Defence Welfares Services badge © Austin J. Ruddy

Initially an order for 800 badges was made: however, about a month later, it was ascertained at least 1,736 were needed: "An amended estimate has been obtained from Messrs. Fattorini Ltd for the larger supplies at the rate of 11d [£2.50] per badge. 3,000 passes for Welfare Service volunteers (including Rest Centre personnel) will be required, costing £8.10.0d [£450]. Total cost of badges and passes is £100.3.4d [£5,280]."

Other CD Committees in the region also purchased enamel badges, most notably in Lincolnshire, with the designs all fairly similar. Around the year 2000, I recall it was said that a carrier bag full of hundreds of County Borough of Grimsby Raid Welfare badges had been discovered and they remain the most commonly seen today, fetching around £10.

County Borough of Grimsby Raid Welfare badge

For years, there was little interest amongst collectors in these raid welfare badges (and armbands and paperwork) and they were not really a seller. However, the badges for other areas of Lincolnshire, such as Holland, Lindsey, Kesteven and Lincoln, are comparatively scarcer and, with the recent rocketing appreciation in Home Front militaria, as we have seen last week, prices have risen, with the average badge around £50.

Rest Centre and Welfare documents, armbands and badges © Austin J. Ruddy

This mirrors a rise in sums paid for items relating to that other overlooked Cinderella CD service, the Fire Guard. So, perhaps, together with the post-raid services, recognition and credit is finally being paid.

Information for the above blog has been drawn from Tested By Bomb And Flame: Leicester Versus Luftwaffe Air Raids, 1939-1945 by Austin J. Ruddy, Halsgrove Books, 2014.